Bullets and red leaves.

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Travel in style!

thats what I said.


Kyoto is exactly as I expected it. And that is not meant in a arrogant sarcastic way. I expected it to be out of control beautiful and it was.

I decided at the last minute to get a shinkansen to Kyoto for a weekend of cultural stuff and to meet with Denis.

We (well, he, being the tour guide and that) choose the busiest tourist weekend of the year here but for good reason and to be honest when you live on a island it becomes quite novel to see loads of blatant tourists, and in fact a massive amount of foreigners like myself.

To be honest I had been looking for an excuse to take a Shinkansen (bullet train) and although £200 in 24 hours will sound like a lot to many for a weekend this country is expensive - and time is worth more than money (big time) here.

For those of you interested, as I often am, a return shinkansen trip from Fukuyama to Kyoto was about £80. This is a sting. But buh....

Anyway, I don't know how much a trip on the apollo space missions are but this is a cheaper and probably more comfortable option. In fact, it kind of works out like taking an aeroplane per mile, but they would obviously never schedule flights for such small distances, so i find it completely fair.

Anyway, that was a good start and to be honest I hadn't realised how good it would be to meet up with Denis. Not only because he is obviously one of my best mates, but it also gives you a reality check on where you are. When you go from one life to basically the complete opposite then it is very easy to get completely disorientated to home life.
I think it made me miss my friends properly for the first time (I missed out my family there because obviously I have missed my family consistenly from the start, before you brake down in tears mum!!!) and made me ever so slighty homesick but at the same time I was revitlasied for the dose of comedy.

I really hope more of you get this blog than the last one, as I have tried to post everyone into it and it just seems to kind of work for some people and not for other and I don"t undrestand why. Genuinly!!
I think I will never be good with pooters as long as I live.

Anyway me and Denis spent the evening in Kyoto and at this fantastic time of year the leaves are of course wondrous to behold - even at night.

In fact, I kind of, in the space of 24hours, manged to do all of those stereotypical japanese things that one finds in the Lonely Planet -yah! But, obviously they are there for a reason and quite frankly we break up our lives wth these kind of ventures so that they will stand out in our minds from the normal routine - and the deep reds, yellows and golds will stick in my mind as freshly as the morning dew that they sprung from.

I would highyl recommend Kyoto; oh and I forgot to mention Osaka which is Japans 2nd largest city (edit) where we stayed fo the night in a capsule hotel (nice) - and espaecially at this time of year.

And, I also think Denis is an excellent tour guide so get out here and abuse his gifts asap.

Malaysia in 3 weeks......

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Photos

Pause for thought in the toursit fever

Alright enough pictures of a train.
But some people are interested in this sort pants, ie Denis. Its basically all lke 1st class....ish.

Gardens by night
You will by now have noticed that I am not saying what the name of any of these places are. Well, I can't remember and it is written in teh lonely planet on teh other side of the room but I am writng this after working at my culture festival on a sunday. If you come here I will be glad to flick through it. Thi s was a old palce and zen temple, and everything about it was mae to made you feel pretty peaceful and in awe of nature, and I did.

Seeing these leaves at night is a another experience altogether
Again, more leaves but it is hard to describe how pianstakingly beautifully planned all of these gardens are and it is pretty amazing to be there.

Bamboo scaffolding
I thought that was quite nuts. They fix the temples here old style.

Giant lantern
although I've seen bigger

Comments

[S]

Autumn colours
The gold of Zeus' hair, the red of Cruise's tonsils... but seriously it looks fantastic. Can we see the cherry blossom in Kyoto with you in spring?

[gubbins]

are you eating out there?
at the risk of sounding like one's mother -the nick is looking terribly thin.. i worry you know.. tell dennis he's a gay icon.

[gubbins]

are you eating out there?
at the risk of sounding like one's mother -the nick is looking terribly thin.. i worry you know.. tell dennis he's a gay icon.

[The Gerry]

Mighty Oishii
Man, beautiful pics. Ze Kyoto looks like an amazing place in the... fall?? I'm not sure if i can even call it that since we are already in december. However, fall is still in full force. We should meet up for a brew and okonomiyaki before your JLPT test this weekend.

[deleted_1954]

Ze Gerry
Get some malasia pics up brfotha! Man sleep deprevation is hitting me hard. Haven't slept more than 3 hours since tuesday! Back in beantown and enjoying ze beans. enjoy ze holidays and mata ne.